Science, Technology, and Global Security Working Group at MIT
presents
Nuclear Power and its Alternatives for a Carbon-Constrained World
Robert Williams
Princeton Environmental Institute
Princeton University
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
12:00p - 1:30p
E51-095
Free and open to the public.
We assess the comparative costs and benefits of three alternative
options for baseload electric power that do not release carbon
dioxide to the atmosphere: nuclear power, coal power with carbon
capture and sequestration (CCS) and wind power with compressed air
energy storage (CAES). All three must overcome major challenges
before they can be implemented on a large enough scale to reduce
carbon emissions significantly. In the case of nuclear power, there
is a widespread consensus that the present non-proliferation regime
cannot handle the increased risks of nuclear proliferation and
terrorism in a world that relies much more heavily on nuclear power,
but little agreement on how these risks can be minimized. With regard
to CCS, the major challenge is to demonstrate that sequestration on
the required scale can be implemented economically and with minimal
environmental impact. For wind power, the major challenges are the
intermittent nature of the source and the need to transport the
generated electricity from wind-rich regions to major population
centers. We conclude that all three options are roughly
cost-competitive, so that non-climate considerations will probably
determine the technology-mix under a climate change mitigation policy.
Robert H. Williams is Senior Research Scientist at Princeton
University's Center for Energy and Environmental Studies. His
research interests span a wide range of topics relating to advanced
energy technologies, energy strategies, and energy policy, for both
industrialized and developing countries. A considerable part of his
research is focused on energy technologies and strategies for
developing countries, where most of the growth in global energy
demand will take place, and where environmental and security
challenges relating to energy are especially great. He was Chair of
the Renewable Energy Task Force for the President's Committee of
Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and was the principal
author of "Renewable Energy",(Chapter 6) in the 1997 report, Federal
Energy Research & Development for the Challenges of the 21st Century
and Report of the Energy R&D Panel. He received a B.S. in physics
from Yale University in 1962 and a Ph.D. in theoretical plasma
physics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1967.
Danielle Mancini
Program in Science, Technology, and Society
Science, Technology, and Global Security Working Group
MIT, E51-163D
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
http://web.mit.edu/stgs
Tel: 617-452-2542
Fax:617-258-5750
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
_______________________________________________
Sci-tech-public mailing list
[email protected]
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/sci-tech-public
